Speckled broiler from Moyers' chicks

[njchickenrookie]

I ordered 1/2 red broiler (k22) and 1/2 speckled broiler hatched on 4/29. Supposed to be all male for both.

http://www.moyerschicks.com/catalog/colored-broilers

So far, the red ones are pretty uniform. The speckled broilers are however:

1. 1/2 of them much smaller, and looks like female birds;
2. they look like they have lots of Delaware in them.

I am thinking of keeping the smaller speckled females as layers, and also maybe keep one or two males for breeding/hatching.

Anyone else have those? What are your thoughts?

njchickenrookie

 

[njchickenrookie]

no one wants to help out a rookie?

 

[Baybrio]

Not sure why no ones responded. I haven't read much on here about the speckled broilers.

I looked into them earlier this year but thought it was odd that you could only order males. I'd be interested in hearing if the smaller speckleds turn out to be hens and how they grow out and lay.

Your birds look great!

 

[njchickenrookie]

Thank you so much. They are 8 weeks now and I am wondering whether I should switch the hens to lower protein feed. They are all on 20% flock raiser right now.

 

[LindaB220]

no one wants to help out a rookie?

Hey njchickenrookie

I'm at a loss because I've never heard of speckled broilers. Some kind of hybrid anyway. If you got females and they aren't grossly obese, sure keep them. They will lay eggs. Just treat them as chickens. Feed normal rations and let them roam if you can. I can't unfortunately. If you breed them they will not breed true. Probably a bunch of different looks. But, hey, try it and see. Good to have you. I hang out on the fermented feed threads and deep litter threads. Both things you need to look into.

 

[njchickenrookie]

as to all male offerings, I wonder whether it means they keep female as layers and want to protect the genes. In that case I got lucky with a few layers in hand.

 

[LindaB220]

as to all male offerings, I wonder whether it means they keep female as layers and want to protect the genes. In that case I got lucky with a few layers in hand.

This is so funny, I went to the website and didn't see speckled. They do look really good. Better than my Delaware in color.
Yeah, I went back and found it. So strange. But very pretty.

 

[LindaB220]

Keep us in the loop on the processing of the birds. What's the weight compared to the other kind. Is it worth ordering. How are the females?

 

[CatalanState]

Theys looks like my master grey chickens

 

[SpringPeeper]

I'm another who's not heard of speckled broilers before. I know I would definitely be tempted to try out some of the hens as layers, just to see how they did.